THL Peer Review

The Tibetan and Himalayan Library is committed to academic excellence. Therefore, it relies upon a rigorous process of peer review of scholarly submissions. As can be seen from our editorial boards, the scholars involved in administering THL are drawn from the top academic organizations in the world and include many of the most prominent people in the field. Administrators reviewing THL publications can thus be assured that publication within THL is equivalent in academic worth and prestige to publication in a major journal, academic publishing house, or prestigious reference work. We suggest scholars print this page, or refer their academic supervisors to this page, for consideration in appraising THL contributions in annual review, tenure, or promotion decisions.

Peer review takes four distinct forms within THL:

The Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies (JIATS). This journal has its own editorial board of top scholars which employs standard academic practices of peer review. JIATS is a traditional journal, albeit with many innovative features deriving from its digital character, and offers THL’s main venue for publication of innovative scholarly articles.

The Encyclopedias of Tibet and the Himalayas. This reference resource has its own editorial board of top scholars which employs standard academic practices of peer review. The Encyclopedias are thematic in character and form THL’s main venue for publication of scholarly work that is better suited for reference resources than for journal articles.

Granular submissions to Dictionary, Gazetteer, Media Repositories, and elsewhere. This involves a somewhat different process of review due to the granularity of submissions, and their extent. The THL board overall, or specific editorial boards in charge of a given repository, function as gatekeepers deciding on who can submit to their repositories through assessing their scholarly credentials. In addition, there is periodic review of work by the governing scholars.

Projects. These resources involve a broader assembly of contributions that are integrated according to the project’s thematic focus. Firstly, projects must be submitted and approved by the THL board overall or its delegated representatives in order to begin work within THL. Secondly, once a project is completed, it is submitted for formal peer review by outside scholars. Thus, any project with a THL Publication header has undergone a strict process of scholarly peer review.